Let’s brainstorm together! We’re writing a script for yet another sequel in the 101 Dalmations franchise, and we need to conjure up a suitably contrived canine kidnap contrivance. What equipment will Jasper and Horace need this time round? Van – check! Binoculars – check! Cage – check! Balaclava – check! Gloves – check! Lead – check! Muzzle – check! Comedically large steak – check. Stickers – what? We’re definitely going to need stickers. No, not gold star stickers for a well-executed dog-napping. Stickers for marking which houses have nice stealable doggos. Yes, walking around neighbourhoods putting stickers on things may cause suspicion. If our movie is going to be set in the modern era, then there are doorbell cameras and CCTV to consider too.
Bull-dog
It’s a reasonable enough plot for a caper-filled 90 minutes of Disney animation with a guaranteed happy ending, but there are people who seem to think it could form part of a gritty factual documentary. As such, they’re willing to mentally hurdle the implications of marking targets in such an obvious way, or be so blissfully free of the desire to think things through that they’ll happily swallow and regurgitate warnings about adhesive-wielding ne’er do wells with a hankering for a hound heist.
Doberman pincher
So, where is this implausible plot coming from? Well, mostly social media of course. It seems like we have yet another unsinkable rubber duck popping up once again. In a local community Facebook group I’m part of, a post from a presumably well-meaning member warned us all about unusual stickers that have been spotted on lampposts, gates, and fences around town, with the suspicion that they’re from criminal gangs marking houses of dog owners with those stickers in order to target them. As well as setting off my skeptical spider senses, it also rang a bell. With a little searching, it’s easy to find a long trail of such warnings spanning back over a decade.
From IOL South Africa earlier this year:
“There has been a warning about thieves using coloured stickers to designate locations where they intend to take dogs.”.
From a 2022 social media post:
“just had a grey polo pull up in front of house and put a dog nose sticker on the car. drove off when confronted. suspecting a dog kidnap gang. has anyone experienced similar”.
From the Lancashire Telegraph in 2021:
“Warning to UK dog owners over thieves as stickers appear on homes”.
From Cornwall News in 2020:
“Pet owners warned against dognappers after worrying sticker is left outside home”.
From the Alberton Record in 2016:
“Apparently criminals are marking homes with coloured stickers or other symbols in order to steal dogs to use in dog fighting events”.
From Yahoo News in 2015:
“Secret Burglar Signs Tell Thieves If Owner’s Dog Is Worth Stealing”.
One of the earliest messages, back in 2013, on the Champdogs Forum, with what appears to be an extra dose of racism:
“Hi everyone just to warn everyone dogs in north Ayrshire ie Irvine kilbirnie etc Asian people are driving round in van marking gates then coming back to steal them I was warned by fellow dog owners.”
Pug life
To add to the news stories, blog posts, and social media warnings, it seems like a number of companies who are desperate to sell you security cameras and alarm systems for your house are happy to jump on the bandwagon too, with similar messaging in amongst lists of other things to be terrified of. Participating in this scaremongering are Alfred Camera, Blakefire Security, Zosi, Safewise, Arlo, and Metro Security to name but a few.
A pack of Shih Tzu
So, is this actually something to be worried about? The short answer is no. The longer answer is also no, but with some extra supporting information. Snopes actually covered this pretty well way back in 2013 to start with. It stands to reason that if you wanted to share details of a potential pooch poaching opportunity with your criminal gang then you could just have a group chat in an encrypted messaging app (as long as you don’t accidentally add a journalist to it). Or, if you’re old school, just write addresses down on a piece of paper.
It’s also worth noting that there are variations in the story between dogs being stolen to take part in dog fighting, or pedigree dogs for their resale value, or sometimes it’s not related to dogs at all, but just regular burglary. Somewhat embarrassingly, my local Police service fell for this some years back and posted some warning messages on social media to ‘Break the housebreakers code’.
Once again, Snopes came to the rescue shortly afterwards. There are even a few rare examples of children apparently being the target of the sticker markings – in one case causing a local Police Department to issue a statement calling the rumours unfounded. These types of messages continue to do the rounds from time to time, mostly because it’s seen as helpful to the people around you to warn them of potential harm, but the unnecessary fear they cause is harmful in itself.
Golden Deceiver
Are dogs actually at risk of being stolen though? Well, yes, but almost certainly not to any significant level. The numbers are hard to pin down precisely, because laws specifically about pet theft were only introduced in 2024, and only apply to England and Northern Ireland. Scotland and Wales may follow suit in the future. This means that dog the theft statistics we have to go on currently contain a reasonable amount of guesswork.
A policy paper for the proposed Scottish Dog Theft Bill cites 88 incidents for 2020-21, which represented an increase from previous years, and was attributed to increased demand for dogs during the pandemic. It is suspected that some criminal gangs were involved in these thefts, which is unsurprising considering the eye-watering cost of some pedigree dogs. It’s also worth noting that the cited numbers in the paper exclude domestic disputes, which may explain the higher number of 200 in a Scotsman article from the same year. Either way, those numbers barely register when considering the total number of dogs in Scotland, which is estimated to be between 800,000 and 1,000,000 according to the same policy paper.
Hoarder Collie
So, if you’re a dog owner, your four-legged friend is probably going to be just fine as long as you pay reasonable attention. Those unsinkable rubber ducks will probably be fine too unfortunately, so keep your eyes out for the next time they pop up – in whatever form they may take.
